Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.

Zuma

I watched the building that had just blown up and was on fire, worrying for my friends inside. Ryder was beside me, frantically calling the fire department, or the police, or maybe both.

"So that's the signal," Rubble said naively. "I thought it was gonna be like a flag or something. Blight really thought things out to have brought explosives with him for the signal, huh?"

"I'm suwe he did, Wubble," I said. "I'm suwe he did."

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Chase

I sat on a human-sized chair opposite to Zane. He invited me to chat with him upstairs, though the word 'invited' was used vaguely, 2 guards woke me abruptly and brought me to his office.

I didn't see Rocky in the cell, which was concerning.

However, as I sat to the opposite of the man that Blight warned us about, I decided that Rocky's mysterious disappearance from his cell ca be questioned later.

The guards that took me to the office didn't seem particularly worried about me knowing the layout of the building, so they didn't blindfold me. Though I have already seen the main portion of the ground floor, the guards had brought me upstairs, giving me a view of many wiring and machinery that extended there, most likely haven't been cleaned up yet. Outside of Zane's office was a cooking station and a gas canister, most likely set up to be a temporary kitchen.

The office itself was clean and tidy compared to the rest of the second floor. The room was rather plain, with only a desk in the middle with two chairs opposite each other. On the desk stood a computer, probably for filing purposes.

"My apologies for not having more comfortable seating alternatives for you," Zane said while drinking from his cup. "I'm afraid that I don't get the pleasure of talking to your kind much."

"No, really?" I asked sarcastically.

Zane frowned. "I already told you, I do not involve myself much into Robert's experiments. I provide him with money while he presents me the results of his experimentations. Very rarely will I call for his services."

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Can't even find more time for small talk, could we?" Zane sighed while setting down his cup. "I'm here to talk about the deal I presented you last night."

"No deal," I said with a note of finality.

"I simply do not grasp why you would refuse," Zane said calmly. "The wolf, as I know, had no ties or connections with your team whatsoever prior to the fire that happened in the hospital."

"That you caused," I growled.

He ignored me. "It is in your best to ensure your friends' safety, is it not? By refusing me, you are simply putting them in risk. Why would you put a wolf you've only recently met over your friends?"

"I'm putting justice over them," I retorted. "And I know for a fact that they'll understand."

Zane sighed. "I hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but I'm afraid you leave me no choice."

I flinched, fully expecting him to attack me. But Zane simply pushed a button on his remote, activating a screen on the desk.

In the video feed, I could see a dark room with two figures within. One of the figures was a human, strong and masculine, wielding a whip with his right hand. The other one I recognized immediately.

"Rocky!" I shouted despite knowing that he couldn't hear me, much less respond.

"I do not usually like to resort to such methods," Zane said calmly. "But I'm afraid you left me with no choice."

"Let go of him, you bastard!" I yelled.

"No, I do not think I will," Zane smirked, knowing full well that he had the upper hand in this conversation. "I'm afraid that the wolf you're working with has been a thorn on my side for a long time now, and I cannot let anyone associated with him come and go so easily. Now tell me, are you willing to work for me? Or are you willing to watch your friend get tortured in front of you?"

I considered attacking that bastard right there and then, but the two guards that brought me here still stood at the entrance, guns ready.

Dangit, Chase. You just couldn't have brought a gun even only for self-defense, could you?

Perhaps I would've surrendered to Zane. After all, watching my friend get beaten would not have bode well with me. But at that moment, Everest slammed into the torturer's side, knocking him off balance.

Zane must've been as surprised as I was at the sudden turn of events, because it took him a full second before going into his comms. "This is Zane, we have a code B7 a dog had broken out of its containment. Send backup to the torture chamber. I repeat, send backup to the torture chamber."

"They won't hear that, you know?" a familiar voice said from behind.

As I turned around, I saw that Blight had somehow knocked out the guards at the entrance without even making a sound. He grinned as he pointed a pistol at Zane's head, wielding the gun with uncanny dexterity for an untrained non-human.

"Blight," I shouted. "Where are the rest?"

"I take it you saw Rocky and Everest," Blight said without taking his eyes of Zane. "Marshall's with Everest, and I sent Rubble, Zuma, and Ryder outside. Skye was with me, but I told her to go to the basement in case they need any help."

"What now, wolf?" Zane said as calmly as ever, though this time, I saw a flash of fear in his eyes. "Kill me. Is that not what you have wanted your entire life?"

"Tempting," Blight said. "But, no thanks. You have too much credit for yourself, Zane. To me, you're just a means to an end, an end to Blood Rend."

"Besides," he grinned. "I owe Chase one for deciding to side with me, so I'll play nice and hand you over to the cops."

I rolled my eyes, "Should I cuff him?"

"Yeah, good idea," Blight said. "Don't let him try anything."

However, as I stepped towards Zane, he immediately pulled out a hidden pistol and fired in my direction.

Luckily, Zane was a terrible shot. Not-so-luckily, Zane was a terrible shot.

His bullet hit directly at the gas canister just outside the office, causing an ear-shattering explosion. Immediately, Zane cried out in pain as Blight had shot his right arm and leg just before he pulled out his gun.

"Dangit!" Blight threw his gun down frustratedly. "I couldn't get a clear shot without risking hitting you."

"Sorry."

Blight turned his head around. "We need to run."

The wolf wasn't kidding, the explosion had resulted in a massive flame that is already spreading incredibly quickly. I tried to remember what Marshall had told me, gas canisters explosions can't be put out by water, right? Too bad that particular advice isn't very useful in this situation.

"Wait," I turned to Zane. "What about him?"

"Leave him," Blight said to absolutely no one's surprised. "Putting aside the fact that he's an ass, we can't save him, even if we wanted you."

"Still as calculating as ever, I see," Zane smirked at Blight. "Putting your own safety above all else, even if it means leaving behind a loved one."

Blight's eyes flashed dangerously, and a single gunshot was heard before Zane collapsed lifelessly onto the floor. I didn't even see him grab the gun.

"Sorry," Blight said coldly, his eyes still gleaming with a murderous rage. "Think of it this way, it's a way less painful death than burning alive."

I shook my head and ran with him towards the stairs, knowing that this isn't the time for deep philosophical debates about the morals of killing someone.

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The stairs were blocked off. Of course the stairs were blocked off.

A giant pile of burning rubble stood at the top of the stairs, blocking it off. I tried to push it, but there was no way we'd be able to clear out a path before either the fire or the lack of oxygen got to us.

"I sense something over there," Blight pointed to the direction opposite to the stairs.

"We aren't really in dire need for cell phones right now," I said. "Unless you wanted to say your goodbyes already?"

"Very funny, Chase." Blight rolled his eyes. "It's tall, really tall. I would bet that it's an elevator or something."

"You think?"

"You rather stay here? I think I can find a phone for those goodbyes."

And that's how I ended up following Blight blindly into the flames. Before long, true to his word, we found an elevator. However, it was immediately apparent that the narrow size of it will only fit one of us inside.

"This thing isn't even close to being finished," Blight commented. "Don't think it'll even last a single trip, and that's if you're lucky."

I took a sharp breath in on that. That means only one of us could get down with it. "You think that it's safe?"

"I can easily send that thing down," Blight snorted. "But as I said, the string will barely last a single trip, no hacking powers in the world will change that."

I sighed, "Blight, you should-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Blight had delivered a sharp jab to my side and immediately pushed me into the elevator before slamming the door shut in front of my face.

"What the-" I was completely shocked by the turn of events.

"Yeah, I know what you were trying to do there," Blight chuckled from the other side of the door. "Sorry, mate. Ain't happening."

"You had every chance to get away," I shouted. "Even if I were to attempt to get on this thing first, I couldn't even use it without you!"

"You didn't," Blight said. "Besides, You've got a lot more to live for."

"So do you!" immediately after saying that, I realized my mistake.

"No, Chase," Blight said sadly. "All my life, hunting Blood Rend had been all I did. As this building burns down, so shall I."

"You still have a lot to do," Blight continued. "You're still a young cop. You have crimes to solve, criminals to catch, and a whole lot of innocent lives to save."

"But-" Blight didn't let me finish.

"And most importantly, your friends," his voice was sorrow. "I know how it feels to have a loved one taken from me by death, I don't want anyone else to feel like that. You have a lot of friends: Ryder, Rocky, Marshall, you should really ask Skye out someday," he chuckled. "But me? I don't have anyone out there that truly cared for me. My family is dead, and my life as a bounty hunter never made me many friends. People will cry at your funeral, Chase, but no tears will be shed for me."

I remained silent this time, unsure as of what to say.

"You and your friends taught me a lot, Chase," I can almost hear Blight's grin from the other side of the door. "Thank you, and...I'm sorry."

And on that note, the elevator zoomed down, bringing me to the ground floor and leaving Blight to fend for himself.

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Blight grimaced as he heard the elevator's rope snap under the strain. There goes any hope that his calculations were wrong. Hopefully, Chase made it down safely.

Blight smiled to himself, confident that he did the right thing by saving Chase. As he said so himself, no tears will be shed for him.

Though, he wasn't going to pat himself on the back just yet.

Blight was never the one to surrender to destiny. His grin was strained as he watched the building collapse into itself around him.

Parkour skills, don't fail me now.

This should be the last update before the epilogue. We'll see.

Also, to the people that say that elevators aren't that narrow, well, you've just been in good elevators.